***December Snowflakes 2012 Parenting***

[ImSoTired]

Congrats honey. I will be ttc in July and can't wait.

Bean I hope that you and your dh have reconciled.

Hope all is well

 

[Beanonorder]

Well we didn't go out for our dinner last night But we've made up now.

On an exciting front, Amber took 4 -6 steps between dh and I this evening about ten times! So she's on her way now!

BBygurl sorry about the teething!

 

[Kelly M]

Honey B, congrats! I still don't feel that desire to have another. Not sure I ever will, but not sure I want Carter to be an only child either. We'll see! So exciting for you though!

Bean, Amber looks so cute in those pics! What a beautiful smile!
Hope she feels better soon.

Carter recently had croup and rsv. It was pretty horrible. He had two steroid treatments because he couldn't breathe and we were in the er in the middle of the night. I've never seen him so sick, he just laid on my lap all day which is totally not like him to sit still for even a minute! He's all better now though and back to climbing the walls, throwing things and being a rambunctious boy.

Congrats to those babies who are walking now! So exciting! Hopefully those who aren't yet will be there soon. It's amazing how different all our babies are. I easily forget that a lot of babies aren't walking yet at this age because Carter has been walking for 7 months now. Not bragging or anything, but I can't believe it's been that long already!

Carter does refer to me and dh as mamma and dadda sometimes but when he's upset he usually just cries instead of using any words. He can say a lot of things but often he just points and goes, Uuuhhh! I think that's normal though.

 

[ttc_lolly]

Honey OMG congrats! You kept that quiet, you little sneak so happy for you

Yaaay well done Amber on walking

Sorry to hear of Carter being unwell Kelly sounds awful. I'm so glad he's all better now x

 

[Honey.Bee]

Thanks ladies! If all goes well this LO is due the day before Ava's birthday. Oops! It hasn't really sunk in yet.

Bby - Surely you have your hands full without another?! Hope the teething passes quickly. Ava had 6 coming through at one time. Although it was hellish at least it got it out the way I guess.

Bean - Great news on the walking. There will be no stopping Amber now

Kelly - That sounds awful - poor Carter

 

[Beanonorder]

Hi everyone, hope you've all had a great weekend

So on the Amber walking front - we've gone backwards there! The day after she took the steps she refused to even stand by herself and she won't take any steps unassisted. Most of the time she won't even walk unless she is holding both your hands. I'm really sad about it. I'm still worried that there is something wrong....

On a more positive note, dh is finally on board about having number 2! He's still very reluctant but at least he's stopped saying absolutely no.

My cat has gone missing. He has disappeared a few times before but he has always been back within 2/3 days. Its now been 5 days and still no sign of him. And the other cat is beside herself. She meows all night. I don't know what we are going to do because I can't keep going with almost no sleep at night.

 

[Honey.Bee]

Oh Bean, it's all going on. I hope your cat is back home soon. As for Amber, I really don't think it sounds like anything is wrong. They do take a few days to settle into it and get their confidence. You know she can do it. Have you tried giving her something to hold in one hand so she only has one hand free to hold yours. I did this with Ava and it worked well plus she was distracted and walking almost without realising. Good news on #2. Your DH sounds like mine - grumpily resigned to it! x

Has anyone noticed their babies trying to become nocturnal? Ava is being a right pain at the moment. Instead of sleeping through she has taken to having awake spells that can last up to 3 hours in the night. I know the holiday didn't help but last night she was awake 1030 screaming and writhing as if something was majorly wrong. I tried everything to get her back to sleep including leaving her screaming in her cot, calpol, food, drink, cuddles, our bed etc Its almost like I have to tire her out again before she sleeps. Sigh. Finally at 0130 she crashed out. It's been 3 weeks now. I think I'm going to have to go back to sleep training. Much as I hate it, she is getting in bad habits. Any ideas?

 

[Beanonorder]

Thanks for the tip honey - I'll try that!

Sorry about Ava's sleeping. Over Christmas Amber started waking up at night. Initially it was because of a cold but then it became a habit. As soon as I realised it was a habit I figured I had to do something about it. So when she woke up and stood up, crying I waited two minutes before going in to her. (it felt like forever!) But usually she'd get back down and go back to sleep before even a minute was up. This lasted for three or four nights and then she went back to sleeping through the night. It does sound like yours is a bit more serious though so I'm not sure if that will help. Sorry!

 

[ImSoTired]

aww, bean. Sorry your cat has gone missing. I hope he comes back soon! As for Amber's walking, it sounds as though she is just being a little stubborn. What worked for us is just letting Cait push a push toy around and eventually she let go and went on her own. It did take Cait quite a while though to build up the confidence to walk all over on her own. About 4 months from when she started cruising actually. Now I can't keep up with her! I think that Amber will quickly realize it's the better way to get around. Try not to worry too much. Oh and congrats on hubby starting to come around to ttc another! I am worried about money but I think we can keep our ttc date of July.

honey I'm sorry to hear you are having sleep issues again and especially when you are in the first tri and tired. We had a week or two where Cait just would not put herself to sleep but she has gone back to normal. Although last night she was very restless and up at 3am for a short time and I had to go and comfort her. I hope it doesn't become habit.

Cait is doing well. Saying new words all of the time and growing a lot. She still is only sipping on water but dh gave her juice the other day and she did drink some of it. I'm not so happy that it's juice she is drinking but at least it was watered down and it's something other than milk. I am still sure to have her drink her milk but i'd love it if she would drink water in the summer while we are out.

i hope all is well

 

[Beanonorder]

We got Amber a push toy thing for Christmas and she has been happily walking with it since then. In fact she goes so fast with it she is practically running! She has been confidently cruising for 6 months already. These are reasons why I'm worried whether something is wrong. I read that if your child was late to reach milestones like rolling over, crawling, etc then you can expect them to be a late walker. But Amber wasn't late for any milestones. She was either early or right on target. She was 'worming around at 7 and a half months and started properly crawling just after 8 months. She pulled herself up after that and was cruising by 9 and a half months. I hate telling people how old she is now because it almost always followed by 'oh and she isn't walking yet' which makes me feel bad. So now I pre-empt it with 'she's 15 months but she's too scared to walk'. Today at baby class I think she was the only one there not walking
Honey I tried your suggestion of putting something in her hand and she just frowned at me and threw it on the floor! She did walk around our complex with me holding onto just one hand so I guess I'm going to have to just keep trying not make her feel pressured.
Sorry I keep going on about this! People are so opinionated that its hard not to feel bad about it.

 

[ImSoTired]

Bean I know it's frustrating and worrying, but just keep encouraging her. If she walks holding your hands I think it is likely a confidence/ preference thing and not anything developmental. Hang in there, it will happen soon.

 

[Chloe597]

oh man, i just had all sorts of stuff written and accidentally hit the back button on my browser!

bean, i hope your cat returns soon! And i'm sure Amber is just lacking confidence. Does she still crawl to get to thinks, or does she rely on you or DH to take her everywhere? Maybe a new toy slightly out of reach would motivate her to stand up and walk to it, while forgetting that she was actually walking?

Honey, I'm sorry about your sleep issues. We had that happen for about 1.5 weeks. it was awful. We turned the heat up in case she was waking up due to cold, and put her to bed right at 8pm. I had been trying to get her to sleep later so she would be more tired, but that didnt seem to help. We also have a rule to not go in for 10 min after she starts to cry unless she sounds like she is in pain. Usually her crying is more yelling. and often it doesnt last more than 10 min. In the middle of the night, if she does cry for longer than that, we bring her in bed with her glow worm and an electronic book to play with, and she eventually falls asleep on my chest. I hope it gets easier for you!

IST, glad you are having better luck with non milk drinks. Just keep offering it. I think in the summer months she will be happy to take some nice cold water. Its so much more refreshing on a hot day!

Gabby is approaching running now. She moves SO fast. it scares me because that just means it will hurt more if she falls on her face. And she repeats everything i say now. She doesnt know what some of it means, but its adorable now to hear her try to repeat the most random words (last night it was 'advil' which sounded more like 'a boo')

 

[Honey.Bee]

Bean - Ava has a 17 month old friend who is not even close to walking. Amber will get there I'm sure. If she likes holding your hand then maybe just go with that for now, then just offer her one finger and then just lightly touch the upper part of her wrist.

Thanks for the support about sleeping. Do you know what? The last two nights she has been brilliant. It's weird. 3.5 weeks of hell then back to normal but for no obvious reason. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that is it now.

 

[Beanonorder]

Chloe she happily crawls all over and she also knee walks, which is hysterical to watch. I'll just be patient and keep walking round with her when she wants to.

Honey I'm glad Ava's sleep has improved!

 

[scoobydrlp]

Hi all! Sorry it's been so long, we were on vacation at the beach this past week which kept us busy. Unfortunately the weather wasn't great, so we didn't get to do any swimming But we did play in the sand a couple times and waded in the ocean up to our (or Camden's) knees. The water was freezing! But she loved playing in the sand. I was afraid she might not like the texture and having it stuck on her, but she didn't mind. And she loved the water too, she kept running straight at the water and shrieking with excitement. I think she would have just dove in if I let her! We'll go back in the summer and I'm happy to know she'll enjoy it.

Camden has gotten very good with walking and doesn't fall nearly as often anymore, although she has more trouble in the grass. She is starting to try to run which is adorable. Since the weather has been warmer she's been enjoying her water table, and we also have been to the park several times. She's not really into climbing yet so she doesn't spend much time on the jungle gym, but she likes to collect acorns and carry them around everywhere with her.

Bean, it sounds like Amber is getting close to walking. I agree with slowly reducing the support she's getting when holding your hand.

Hope everyone is well!

 

[Beanonorder]

Hi ladies!
Everyone has been really quiet - hows it all going?
Its not bad here. Amber cut two teeth in the last week, bringing her up to 7 teeth. And number 8 is about to pop out. Her nose is just streaming constantly and as a result she has the most awful cough. I am really hoping we get a break after this before her molars start.

Otherwise not much going on. We're just getting started with ntnp. I'm hoping my cycles sort themselves out quickly. I'm really hoping for a March/April baby next year so I can get three months maternity leave followed by my two month summer holidays! But I'll take what I can get!!!

 

[scoobydrlp]

Bean, good luck with ntnp!!

Camden is teething like crazy too. Molars are no joke! She has 4 top incisors and 2 bottom incisors, one molar top and bottom on her right side, and top left is poking through. Her nose is super gross and her sleep is out of wack. Can't wait for teething to end!

 

[ImSoTired]

Cait is so slow with teeth. She still only has 4 but I can see more under the gums they just haven't made it out yet. Otherwise we're doing fine.

Bean congrats on ntnp! I'm still waiting to start trying this July and I'm terribly broody. My cycles seemed to be right on track but this one I had a late ovulation so I guess I'm not as well off as I thought. Anyway good luck! I'm so jealous! Can't wait to start!

I hope everyone is well

 

[scoobydrlp]

IST - love the new picture of Cait!

 

[Beanonorder]

Such a cute picture IST! Everytime I try change my avatar something happens and it doesn't work! But you all definitely seem to have little people now! Because of her hair and no walking Amber still comes across as very much a baby still. I can't really think of her as a toddler!

I came across a blog post about using fabric paint to make non-slip socks. So I ordered some fabric paint and it just arrived today - I can't wait to have a go at Amber's socks!!!